Dems Right To Force Votes On Outsourcing And China Currency

Our form of government depends on an informed public. But currently the gap between what the public wants and what the public knows is huge. Democrats in Congress have an opportunity this week to draw sharp contrasts between the parties, so voters can be made aware of the choice this November. They owe it to the public to help them make decisions.

Specifically I cited the outsourcing/offshoring problem, where our tax policies actually give companies an incentive to move jobs out of the country, and the Chinese currency problem, where the Congress has shown China that they back the President’s efforts to get them to bring their currency to market rates. Congress forced clear votes on the issues that are so important to people, so people now know where their representatives stand and can hold them accountable.

The Senate did take the vote Tuesday on stopping some of the policies that encourage companies to outsource our jobs. All Republicans and a few “corporate Democrats” stood with the Wall Street and the big multinationals and filibustered against Main Street and jobs. And now the public knows.

The bill will not become law, but the public can see who stood up for them and who stood up for the job-killers. This is just as important — possibly more important in the long run — because it helps break through the corporate-financed smokescreen that masks the real agenda that pushes for a few becoming vastly wealthy at the expense of the rest of us. The public can finally see clearly and act accordingly.

Once again, because of this vote the public now knows that all the Republicans and a few “corporate Democrats” voted to continue the policies that encourage companies to move our jobs out of the country.

Wednesday the House passed a bill to take action on currency manipulation, which currently is in the news because of China’s manipulation of its currency which gives goods made in China a pricing advantage of up to 40%. This bill passed 348-79 with broad bipartisan support.

The trends in policy and polling are going in good directions. The fact that Democrats are in the lead on currency and are being joined by many Republicans shows that the “anti-protectionist” rap is no longer working. The public is extremely supportive of these actions. Taking these on is smart politics as well as good policy.

I wrote this in Tuesday’s post and I’d like to conclude by repeating it: Democrats are leading in the right direction on currency, on manufacturing and on jobs. But it is important to TAKE THE VOTES, so the public can see for sure who is for things and who is against things. The voting matters as much for what the public understands, not whether it will pass, tells the public that there are politicians who get it. Theater matters because the public, in a democracy, must know where their representatives stand. And voting for smart policies, pas or fail, is not just theater, it is doing the right thing.

Taking these votes combines smart politics and smart substance and it is smart before an election. The public deserves to know.

About Dave Johnson

Dave has more than 20 years of technology industry experience. His earlier career included technical positions, including video game design at Atari and Imagic. He was a pioneer in design and development of productivity and educational applications of personal computers. More recently he helped co-found a company developing desktop systems to validate carbon trading in the US.